Jonglei Hardest Hit by South Sudan Floods

BOR —
Tens of thousands of people in South Sudan have been affected by flooding, more than a quarter of them in Jonglei state, United Nations officials said in a report released this week.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 223,474 people in eight of South Sudan's 10 states have been impacted by floods caused by heavy rains. More than 63,000 of those affected were in Jonglei state, OCHA said.

Other states hit by flooding were Central Equatoria, Lakes, Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal, Unity, Upper Nile and Warrap.

The market in the Kuguog neighborhood of Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, was underwater. Residents who were displaced from their homes by flood waters have pitched temporary camp on higher ground.

Dual Machek, the acting director general of Bor county in Jonglei, had to remove his shoes, roll up his trousers and wade through flood waters to get to his office this week.

He complained that the flooding was preventing him and everyone else in Bor from going about their business.

"I have some appointments with some people today and they did not come because... they have to walk in the water," he said.

Flood relief operations in Jonglei were slower than in other states due to "insecurity and access challenges," OCHA said. The state has been rocked by inter-communal violence and a rebellion for more than a year.

In spite of the difficulties, OCHA said that it has been able to reach 138,000 South Sudanese impacted by the floods, or more than half of those affected across the country.